The percentage of high school graduates entering college classrooms who need more work on basic subjects like English and math, dipped slightly for the 2016-2017 academic year.

And many of those students who need help are getting it through Supplemental Academic Instruction, an experimental program that allows students to get remedial help while still earning a college credit. The colleges using the program see students complete courses quicker and with better grades.

That pleases the new executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, Dan Baer. “Reforming development education is not just the right thing to do for students — it’s good for our economy,” Baer said. “By changing the remedial model, we can improve and accelerate academic outcomes, lower costs and expand opportunity to the Coloradans who need it most.”

The CDHE, which released its findings Wednesday. said remedial education courses cost Colorado’s colleges and universities $12.8 million and students $20.4 million during the 2016-2017 academic year. In most cases, students pay for remedial courses before they are able to earn credit towards their degree.

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In all, 56,238 students graduated from a Colorado high school in 2016-2017 and of those graduates, 55.8 percent enrolled into a postsecondary institution, according to the CDHE. The majority, or about 77 percent of the college enrollees, remained in state, while about 23 percent of Colorado high school graduates enrolled out-of-state, according to the CDHE.

Of the high school graduates who moved on to a Colorado public college, 35.3 percent – 8,271 students – were placed into remedial education. That compares to 36.1 percent in the previous year, the CDHE said.

Students in Colorado can enroll in traditional remedial courses that do not count as credit toward a degree and traditionally take English and math courses and meet again for extra tutoring, labs and one-on-one mentoring.

But over the past three years, several campuses have piloted the use of — SAI — where students enroll in college level courses and receive concurrent supplemental support. Early research on SAI shows promise, Baer said.

At Community College of Denver, course completion has quadrupled after implementing an SAI component and more than half of SAI students passed their courses, compared to 34 percent of students taking traditional remedial courses. At Metropolitan State University of Denver, about 75 percent of student enrolled in SAI will pass their courses with a C or better, Baer said.

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